


Triple-Shot off "A Bronze's Hold On A Green"

by DarkDarkerDarkest



Series: A Bronze's Hold On A Green [1]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-02-18 15:20:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2353109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkDarkerDarkest/pseuds/DarkDarkerDarkest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What was said between T’gellan’s women in the cave during Chapter 31 of “A Bronze’s Hold on a Green”. This chapter doesn't make sense unless you have read this story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Talina's Cave of Blunders

**Author's Note:**

  * For [for armourereric and astrokath](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=for+armourereric+and+astrokath).



She had proceeded quietly enough to the showers surrounded by green women riders and they had let her bathe and dress herself before escorting her back to her weyr.  It had been so difficult to hold her head up knowing that all of them hated her. But she had walked with a dignified purpose to return to her confinement. Talina met no human nor dragon eye, not even her beloved Arwith’s.

The women left and Arwith sealed her within with her golden flank pressed against the opening. “ _Sear them black_ ,” she fumed when she realized that her room had been tidied and new glows lit the spacious cavern, even after the shaker had collapsed a part of it. Talina marched over to each glow basket shielding them, then continued straight back to the corner she had occupied for the last two days. 

“ _Oh why can’t Fate rumble the ground and drop this wall over me?_ ” Talina wished again as she gently rocked her head against the wall. She knew her thoughts were petty but she couldn’t help wallowing in self pity. By now, T’gellan was in Benden, telling F’lar and Lessa they were stepping down as Eastern’s Weyrleaders.

“ _Arwith? Arwith love, talk to me._ ”

Talina could still feel her dragon’s emotions, raw and upsetting as they were but her dragon had never refused to converse with her. Ever since that humiliating public beating by the Weyrleader and principle bronze riders, Arwith had been silent in her head. Why did she continue to breathe? Why did her heart continue to beat? Had she ever been so wretched?

As the only girl child of her parents, Talina had enjoyed an exalted position among all her brothers and father. Loved, pampered and indulged for her sweet nature, Talina had little understanding for those indifferent to her charms or unimpressed with her beauty. When the brown dragon called to her during Search, nobody in her father’s household was surprised; Chance had always favored her.

She remembered no home before the High Pasture in Ruatha though she had been born in Crom from which she understood her family had fled after Fax’s unexpected and unlamented death. Lord Warder Lytol reinstated the family to their ancestral home and service. At first Benden was welcoming and her first few turns as a Golden’s rider were ideal, with the exception of having to fight thread. The answer to all of her dragon-wishes cumulated in becoming T’gellan’s Weyrwoman in a brand new Weyr. Now all her good luck had turned to ash.

“ _Talk to me, Arwith. Please, I love you; talk to me._ ”

She knew Arwith could hear her and was devastated that her dragon refused to speak.  Talina resumed gently bouncing the back of her head against the wall, listening to Arwith’s dragonish mind roil in the shame of her.

Something shifted. The darkness in Arwith’s mind lifted and she was suddenly joyous.  Then she launched to the heights. Talina felt the sea breeze move the stuffy air of the cave.  She sensed somebody at the opening even though the dark of outside made him a shadow then he moved to one of the dim lights on a glow basked lighting the cave.  Each looked at the other.

From the depths of Talina’s despair she found a new well of tears to gush down her face as Mirrim smiled at her. Talina cradled her head in her arms and sobbed.  Mirrim smirked as she walked over to the Weyrwoman, shedding her riding gear to fling on the cot. She lowered herself gracefully and sat beside Talina. As the woman continued to cry, Mirrim put her arm about her shoulders and pulled her close rocking her gently. Eventually, Talina had to stop crying and accept that her enemy was succeeding in comforting her. She let Mirrim pull her head against her chest, where she could hear the woman’s crooning, mingled with her steady heart beat.

Mirrim sighed. “Quite a mess you made here, Talina.”

“It all works to your advantage.“ Talina sniffed.

“No, not really,” she replied. “I’d of rather my first visit to Eastern Weyr be under happier circumstances.”

Talina mulled over Mirrim’s choice of words. Barely had she and T’gellan stepped down than he brings his old lover to Eastern. She supposed that the promise he gave her no longer mattered. But then, she had always known that he loved Mirrim and hadn’t forgotten her, not for a moment. She had simply refused to acknowledge it. She needed to believe that keeping T’gellan from Mirrim was vital to their leadership.

“Then you will return to Benden. You are only visiting.” Talina stated in a faintly wistful tone as she turned to look at Mirrim.

Mirrim nodded absently while her half smirk spread into a full smile. “T’gellan has told me that he wants me with him and I will submit to him. It doesn’t matter to me where we stay as long as we are together.” She turned to look at Talina. “Nice shiner.”

Talina absently touched her left eye and looked away. Any rejoinder she had thought to say lost its spite. When Delianna had marched into her weyr with that bottom-heavy green rider behind her, she remembered demanding that they leave.  In the ensuing struggle she may have thrown a punch or pulled a braid. Probably that green rider landed one in here eye. She didn’t get along with any of them. She looked down at her hands and noticed that the marks on her knuckles proved that at least she went out fighting. Thank the first shell her brothers had taught her well. Amidst her memories of the recent event and her childhood home, Talina heaved a deep sigh.

“Why are you here?”

Mirrim pulled her back to her side and patted her shoulder again. “I have a question for you.”

“And then you’ll go back to Benden?”

“What do you want to happen next, Talina?”

“I want you to leave my weyr and go back Benden.”

“You are such a wherrie chick,” Mirrim laughed while patting Talina’s shoulder. “I’m asking you what you want to have happen to you next. Be honest with yourself and answer for your own future.”

“I wouldn’t tell you, you freak green rider.” Talina spat. “You have no idea what has happened to me at Eastern or what I’ve had to endure or what I am going to have to endure.”

“Really?” Mirrim couldn’t help the derision that laced her voice. “You think I have no experience in being ostracized? You don’t think I have had to endure harsh judgments or prejudices? Never severely disciplined for my actions? You really think nobody have ever mocked or derided me for trying to emulate my mentors?”

Talina blushed. She was responsible for many of the judgments, derisions and snubbings Mirrim had endured as a resident of Benden, especially after she impressed Path. Talina’s motivation had only been to attain T’gellan. These time-honored tactics had been learned from her holder mother who had been an expert at achieving the matches and marriages she devised. Talina couldn’t even deem Mirrim a rival; she was not worthy, not an equal in rank or birth. And yet, here was Mirrim comforting her, the fellow outcaste pouring hot ashes on her head. She swallowed a few times trying to find the words to put this green rider in her place without supplying any explanation, let alone an apology. “ _Arwith? Arwith please. Don’t be angry with me anymore. Tell this rider’s dragon she must leave me alone._ ”

When her eyes refocused Mirrim was leaning forward looking straight into her eyes. “What do you want, Talina? Do you really want to sit in this cave until the next shaker makes all your decisions for you?”

Talina shivered. Mirrim rubbed her arm a few times. “You’re still breathing.” Mirrim remarked.  Her hand moved from Talina’s shoulder to her neck pressing two fingers firmly against her jugular. “Your heart still beats.”  Her hand moved to the back of her head where she fluffed her fingers through her hair. “At least you suffered no damage from beating your head against this wall.”

Oh, how Talina truly felt wretched now. Mirrim was inside her mind; knowing things about her that she had no right to know. She felt worse than that first time she woke alone after winning T’gellan to her bed. This was worse than when her father had made that enigmatic remark, “That’s how drudges are made” after she spoke of her childhood plans to become Lord Jaxom’s Lady. Mirrim’s invasion into her mind was as horrific as her mother’s explanation that of all her children, Talina’s sire was Fax, not Natinal.

Her heart raced as she began to hyperventilate. “How could you know… why … you couldn’t  …” Talina hung her head then raising it to the ceiling wailed one long cry. “I’ve lost it all. You’ve taken it all, even my link to Arwith!”

“I have a confession to make, Talina,” Mirrim began after they have been silent for a while.  She squeezed her shoulder then gave it a few companionable pats. “Back when you impressed Arwith, I heard her first.”

Talina stiffened.  Her absolute worst fear was about to be exposed.  She pulled away to look into Mirrim’s imposing green eyes. As her lips quivered, she tried to speak but there was no air in her lungs.  Finally she hoarsely whispered, “NO!”

“I was behind the archway with Manora and F’nor. We had just pushed Brekke onto the sands when I heard Arwith ask me why I was hiding. When I realized that the hatchling queen was speaking to me, I begged her to go to Brekke.”

Talina had continued to shake her head. She couldn’t’ comprehend that Mirrim had known all this time and had never used it against her. As Mirrim’s eyes continued to bore into her, she simply croaked “Why?”

Mirrim smiled sadly while nodding, “At that time in my life, nothing was more important to me than Brekke surviving. So I told the little dragonette to go to Brekke.” 

“I heard her calling to Brekke when I…”

“When you touched her, yes.” Mirrim said when Talina faltered.

Talina bowed her head in shame. Mirrim had known all along that she had taken Arwith from Brekke. She heaved a sigh wondering why she hadn’t broken down in tears again when she felt Mirrim’s calloused hand under her chin lift her face. “Arwith impressed on you, Talina.  You didn’t take her from Brekke or me.”

“But if you’d have come onto the sands…”

“I didn’t.”

“But you would be T’gellan’s Weyrwoman.”

“You are T’gellan’s Weyrwoman.”

The tears had found Talina as she cried. “No, I am not. T’gellan. He went to Benden and told F’lar we’d step down.”

Mirrim rose to her knees pulling Talina to her in an intimate embrace. Talina clung to the taller woman feeling the quiet strength of her arms hold her close.  She could feel her legs against Mirrim’s muscular thighs.  Mirrim’s hips pressed against hers. The sensation of her forehead cradled between Mirrim’s ample bosoms made her feel like a child again, held in her mother’s loving arms. “No, not yet,” Mirrim temporized.  Her latest crying jag stopped abruptly.

Talina raised her head, not at all surprised to find Mirrim’s face close to hers. “I am still Eastern’s Weyrwoman?”

“If that is what you want.”

Talina laid her head against Mirrim’s shoulder, “It is, but they hate me.” She felt Mirrim’s chest chuckle.

“Your people have a right to be angry with you,” Mirrim stated. “You caused injury to a queen and her rider and you refuse to acknowledge it.”

“It was an accident!” Talina felt a sudden rush of fury that shook her. She realized that her dragon had been listening in. Arwith was furious.

“Talina, love,” Mirrim said as she brought Talina’s face up to hers again. “Stop lying, especially to yourself.” Then she leaned forward and covered Talina’s lips with hers.

Behind the woman commanding her body, was the presence of a dragon. Path was pouring her love through Mirrim’s sensual lips and body. To feel a foreign dragon’s presence so physically, Talina responded despite herself. They broke suddenly when Arwith’s anger charged through the three of them. As Talina recoiled Mirrim kept her hold.

“Talina, do you truly wish to remain the Weyrwoman of Eastern?”

“I do, yes.” Talina moaned.

“Then first you must get back on speaking terms with Arwith. Ask her to forgive you and mean it.”  

Talina briefly drew back. She almost retorted “forgive what” but knew she’d suffer another of Arwith’s mental punches. Path’s loving presence had temporarily eased the dragonless void when Arwith withheld her voice. Something she had never understood before became clear. A dragon’s love was all about giving. What Talina understood as love had conditions. How could Arwith have tolerated her for so long?

Mirrim stood up and held her hand out to Talina. “C’mon, let’s get off this hard ground. It’s driving between into my knees.”

Talina stared at Mirrim’s hand realizing that once she had broke their contact she no longer felt Path. Tentatively, she grasped the other woman’s hand to feel the rush of Path’s presence.

“Why are you helping me?”

“Oh, there are several reasons,” Mirrim replied as she gently pulled Talina toward the cot.  Mirrim pushed her gear onto the press then sat cross-legged at the foot of the cot.  She had let go of Talina’s hand. Mirrim gestured to the head of the bed and Talina crawled on, sitting opposite her.  She reached for Mirrim’s hand to feel Path’s connection again.

“You’re going to share T’gellan’s weyr again. That’s one reason.”

Mirrim pushed her chin out a bit as she nodded. “That’s a good reason. Of course you will have to move in with the eight of us.”

“Eight?”

“T’gellan, me, Monarth, Path, Reppa, Loc, Tolly and Arwith. Monarth told me that she stays with him next to T’gellan’s weyr and he will make the wallow bigger for the three of them.”

“I forgot about your fire lizards. I’m not particularly fond of the little pests.”

“You think you don’t like them but that’s because Lessa doesn’t. Besides, mine are well trained.”

Talina grimaced, “I suppose that could be true.” She had wanted one before coming to Benden. Her first close-up view was of Berd flying at her, talons and wing claws flailing. “T’gellan would want me that close to him? He hates me now.”

“He doesn’t hate you; he is only angry with you. His anger will abate once you confess your responsibility to Volkona and Miridath. Talina, dragonriders cannot afford to hate each other.  All our hatred has to be against thread if Pern is to survive.” Mirrim smiled fondly at her, “He has always been attracted to you.”

Raised as a holder’s daughter, Talina understood the concept of a Holder having the official wife and the kept lover. At least in a Weyr, she was not restricted. A glimmer of hope began to glow in her mind. If T’gellan was truly going to remain Weyrleader, she would continue to be the Weyrwoman and she desperately wanted that title and that first position in the Eastern Ballad. Like flame-haired Mihal and raven Toreen. They were remembered because their names were sung first in Benden’s traditional ballad. She was certain that what ever raven meant, it had to mean dark beauty. T’gellan’s auburn and her deep black tresses that not even the sun could lighten, they matched Benden’s First. Talina had always believed that Fate and Chance had worked together to make it so.

“You did have almost two turns to help T’gellan forget me.”

Talina’s brow furrowed. “I did try.”

Mirrim chuckled again. “You shouldn’t have kept telling him what I was up to in Benden.”

Right to her ears, Talina felt herself blush. She looked down at her twining fingers.  She pulled her hands apart balling them into fists then splaying them.

“You may have thought you had your secret spies but you never really paid attention to the brown, green and especially the blue riders. If you had, you’d have known what a blue rider will share with you; he’ll share with a green, especially a female green rider. They’ll go to tremendous lengths to give their dragons an edge in an open mating flight.”

Talina slowly shook her head left to right. “Sear them all black!”

Mirrim reached forward clasping Talina’s hands, essentially stopping her turmoil. “Enough, Talina. Here’s mainly why I am helping you. My most important reason is for you and Arwith. The two of you must heal your bond.”

“ _Arwith! Arwith, don’t hate me._ ” Talina looked beseechingly into Mirrim’s eyes. “Arwith hates me and won’t respond to me,” she cried. “But she talks to you; she was supposed to be yours.”

“Arwith impressed on you then, out of her love, gave me Path. I have dwelt on her gift for turns. I know I belong to Path and we exist for T’gellan and Monarth as much as you and Arwith do. Brekke could never have replaced Wirenth. Arwith belongs to you and you have hurt her far worse than thread. Find within yourself what you’re willing to do to remain Eastern’s Weyrwoman.”

“I have to admit that I hurt Volkona.”

“and??”

“and Miridath?”

Mirrim nodded while raising her eyebrows in an obvious prompt.

“And, and you???”

“Tch, Arwith!”

“Arwith.” Talina brought her hands to her temples. When did her perceived enemy become her greatest supporter? Mirrim and her dragon’s love for T’gellan pored over to her, Talina. She hadn’t deprived anybody of Arwith; this was an amazing release. The conflicting surges of warmth over dread Talina had felt since Mirrim walked into her weyr were consuming her despair.  The one task she didn’t think she was capable of performing suddenly became paramount. Scrunching her eyes and concentrating on her bond to her dragon, she emoted her anguish. “ _Arwith. I am so sorry that I didn’t listen to you. It was my fault; I flamed Miridath and Volkona. I was wrong, I have been so wrong. I was too proud to share myself with you or listen to you when you were upset or hungry or sad. Forgive me my love, my heart, my life, forgive me! Please, forgive me._ ”

“ _What is to forgive?_ ”

“ _Forgive my arrogance. I have hurt you as badly as thread. I was wrong and stubborn. Tell me you forgive me and I will change. I have already changed! I will spend the rest of my life for you, you are first. I will put you first for what am I without you?_ ”

“ _You are my Talina and I love you more than sun-warmed sand. I forgive you._ ”

She didn’t remember crawling into Mirrim’s lap or Mirrim rocking her but as Talina came back into human focus she looked up at Mirrim who had tears running down her smiling face. “Kiss me, Mirrim, kiss me again.” She slid her hand up Mirrim’s chest to behind her neck to bring their lips together. As the last moment, Mirrim shifted to lovingly place her lips on Talina’s forehead.

Taking Talina’s delicate hand from her neck and placing it over her heart, Mirrim replied, “In good time, dear. Keep your focus on the tasks for this night. Get your riding gear.”

As Mirrim stood, Talina crawled off the bed and walked over to the wooden rack to dress for flying. When she turned back around, Mirrim was dressed in her riding gear too. “We go first to T’gellan and the other wingleaders. You must confess to them what you have admitted to Arwith.”

“Oh,” Talina replied her hand coming to her mouth. “It will have to be done, but I am frightened.  They hate me.”

“We will walk together and we will only look at the Weyrleader. He wants us both. When T’gellan nods to you, tell him.  Take responsibility.  I will be right beside you.” Mirrim replied.

“ _I am with you,_ ” replied Arwith.

“ _and I am with you,_ ” added Path.

Talina lifted her haggard face to Mirrim. “I must look awful.”

“You should,” Mirrim asserted. “You nearly killed another rider. A queen’s rider at that.” She pulled Talina close to her. “Then you tell him that you are going to Benden to request transfer.”

“I thought I was to remain Weyrwoman.” Talina replied pulling back.

“T’gellan is the Weyrleader and you must help him reassert his leadership. He will decide whether the transfer means the two of you are stepping down or you have decided to invite me to live at Eastern. He has to know from you that you want me at Eastern. We must allow him make the final decision. And, we must accept whatever he says.”

“I don’t understand.”

“ _You cannot undermine Weyrleader T’gellan. Submit, my dearest._ ”

Arwith broadcasted to the two women and her bronzes as she raised her neck and bugled. “ _I am Arwith of Eastern and Talina rides me._ ”

The two women exited the cave under the deafening roars of Eastern Weyr’s Bronzes.

 


	2. Benden's Release

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Chapter 31 of "A Bronze's Hold On A Green" Mirrim enters Talina's weyr then both exit to T'gellan and the rest of Eastern Weyr's people. Then they fly off to Benden where Talina is supposed to request Mirrim's transfer. Who thinks that's easy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter of three that accompany "A Bronze's Hold On A Green"

Lessa looked up from her scrolls of Landing’s drawings to F’lar who was poring over the map of the southern continent. “Arwith and Talina have arrived.” She stated, rather surprised. Little good could come of this visit, she thought to herself. Both Benden Weyrleaders had been briefed on the horrific accident that left one queen rider without a leg and another disgraced. 

F’lar looked up from the floor with a scowl. “Must want consent to return to Benden!” he grumbled as he quickly curled up the map and slipped it into its tube. 

Lessa walked to his side as they both faced the entrance to Ramoth’s couch. Lessa could hear her queen greet the Eastern Queen and Path. “Path?” Lessa flashed a shocked expression to F’lar before composing herself.

Thus Talina, with Mirrim behind her, glided in to witness a confused Benden Weyrleader as serenely, Lessa stepped forward, her arms outstretched. “Greetings Weyrwoman Talina, Golden Arwith’s rider.”

Talina warmly clasped Lessa’s arms. “I greet you Benden Weyrwoman Lessa, rider of Golden Ramoth.” She let go of Lessa’s arms to perform an elegant curtsey to F’lar before embracing him to kiss his threadscored cheek. “Greetings Weyrleader. I come on business for Eastern. I hope we have not disturbed your evening.”

“No, not at all,” replied a bemused F’lar. “Would you care for some wine or perhaps klah?”

“Oh, Benden wine for sure,” Talina smiled. 

Mirrim stayed behind Talina, bowing to Lessa when their eyes met and saluting F’lar until he returned the gesture. He turned to a corner cabinet pulling four goblets and a decanter of wine. As he made to pour the fourth glass, Mirrim spoke, “No thank-you Weyrleader.”

“Very well, green rider,” F’lar said as he set the decanter down. “You are dismissed.”

She nodded, saluted then executed a precise turn, leaving Talina to the Benden leaders.

“Please, Talina, do sit down.” Lessa gestured to a couch as she took two of the goblets and passed one to the other Weyrwoman. Both sat. F’lar pulled a chair from the desk and brought it to set facing the women.

“To what do we own this late visit, Talina?” F’lar asked as he sat opposite her.

She twirled the clear liquid in her goblet admiring it before looking directly at F’lar. “I’ll be brief. Weyrleader T’gellan and I formally request a transfer of Green Rider Mirrim to Eastern.” 

###

Mirrim had exited quickly so as not to hear the negotiations. She decided to grab a quick bite in the dining hall but thought better when she looked from Ramoth’s rim. Too many heads were turned from the cave mouth looking at the second queen and Path. She mounted Path, “Let’s get to our weyr, Path.” Her dragon pumped her wings to lift to their shared quarters with B’nard and Mowalth.

Once the straps were off, Path slinked over to her stone couch and curled into a green ball. “Monarth says my next bed is sandy and warm.” Reppa, Lok and Tolly flitted from the roof of Mirrim’s room to nestle against Path who crooned appreciatively as the fire lizards settled. Mirrim walked to her room stripping her gear and backpack. She paused by her door listening for B’nard. “Path, do you hear Mowalth?”

After a pause, “I do not” but there was no alarm or concern in her mental voice.

Mirrim quickly walked around to the edge of the pool to enter B’nard’s bedchamber. She reached for the sconce to shine light in the neatly-kept room looking for a sign that B’nard had made the jump back three and a half turns. The hides with her lunar calculations were gone from his bedside. The provisions they had collected for a fortnight at Landing were missing too. She nodded approvingly. B’nard must have made the jump. “I wonder how long ago they left.” 

Path crooned but didn’t answer. If she was calm then their mates were within the agreed-upon six hour absence. Mirrim spied a scrap of scraped leather poking from B’nard’s pillow. She pulled it out and read the word “Kitchen” in loopy letters on one side. On the other side was the word “sunset” in B’nard’s bold print. He had made the jump to Bagira, finally. Mirrim let out her breath and felt herself release tension she had felt since confronting and dominating Talina. A hot bath, a long soak sounded like the perfect remedy for her taut nerves. 

As she settled into the warm waters she allowed herself to reflect on the most important event of the day. T’gellan wanted her, still. He intended to be without her no longer. Monarth loved her and had missed her, Mirrim, not just Path but Mirrim. Monarth had told her that he had an emptiness that only she could fill. 

She knew that T’gellan and Monarth had to remain Eastern’s Leaders and Mirrim had secured their position by convincing Talina to retain hers. How the six of them were going to live through the new arrangement could wait until T’gellan and she had time to discuss their options. The status of their relationship with B’nard and Mowalth could wait too. Right now, Mirrim basked in the warmth of her thoughts of T’gellan approaching her that afternoon. A few flashes of Talina’s touches in the queen rider’s weyr encroached upon her reverie but she let them be. Talina was part of T’gellan so long as the two were Eastern’s Weyrleaders. 

###

Talina lay upon the cot in the borrowed weyr at Benden. Her thoughts raced from the turn of events in the last three days to the last three hours. Her meeting with the Benden Weyrleaders had been rather pleasant. There were no reprimands or looks of antipathy or condemnation. F’lar had asked and she recounted the accident with anguished remorse laying the full blame on herself. Lessa had patted her hand in understanding, as if she had personal memories of causing injuries to another rider too.

When F’lar’s protests to relinquishing Mirrim and Path looked to be insurmountable, Lessa had suggested that Talina stay the night. Lessa had noted her haggard appearance and general fatigue. Talina begged off any kind of meal and flew directly to this weyr. 

Now her mind ran from her relief that she was still Eastern’s Weyrwoman to her joy that Arwith was once again in her mind. “I feared you would never talk to me again, my love,” she thought to her dragon. “When Path’s rider told me that you called to her first, I was so certain that you would choose her as it was meant to be.”

“You are mine and I am yours. You chose me when I broke from the shell and I love you best.” Arwith replied after a pause. 

“But you called to Mirrim first,” Talina protested.

Arwith did not answer. 

Talina sighed and rolled to a fetal position imagining if Mirrim had impressed her Arwith. She and T’gellan would have been rightfully together. They would have made Eastern Weyr far more prosperous that it currently is. Talina would have returned to Ruatha and her parents would have married her to a prospering cotholder or maybe even somebody within the main hold, like Dorse, Jaxom’s milk-brother. He had no taint of Fax.

“Be easy, my love,” Arwith answered at last. “Mirrim’s love for Brekke is why I am yours. My love for Monarth is why Mirrim belongs to Path.” 

Talina sighed and rolled to her back, rubbing her hands along her torso. “Easy, you say. Until today I did not understand love. All I have ever done my whole life is take love and never return it.” 

“Talina, my rider,” Arwith chided, “You now know love. You feel my love. You felt Path’s love and you felt her rider’s love.”

Talina sat up, holding her hands to her lips. “Yes, Path and Mirrim only wanted to heal our bond and they wanted it healed for us. Then they healed T’gellan and through him, Eastern Weyr.” As she lay back down, she crossed her arms in a hug. She began rhythmically rubbing her hands down her torso to her thighs then back up over her breast as she contemplated Mirrim’s motives that evening. 

A heat grew as she thought about Mirrim’s arms pressing her into her body, Mirrim’s lips upon hers. She jumped up from the cot and ran to her dragon. “Take me to her. Take me to Mirrim.”

 

###

Path and the fire lizards had fallen into a deep sleep and Mirrim was about to step out of the pool when she heard a dragon land on the lip of her weyr and somebody enter as the dragon lifted away. If her calculations were correct, then the person approaching couldn’t be B’nard. She half expected G’lenan or S’bald wanting to satisfy his curiosity but was surprised to see Talina look tentatively around the corner of B’nard’s room. 

“Mirrim? Are you alone?” Talina called out. 

“I’m in the pool having a soak,” Mirrim responded.

“Where’s, where is blue rider B’nard?” Talina asked as she rounded the corner and approached Mirrim’s steps.

“We don’t expect them back until right after the change of watch.” Mirrim responded enigmatically. “Aren’t you and Arwith going back to Eastern tonight?” 

“Lessa invited me and Arwith to stay until morning. Arwith returned to a borrowed weyr. I wanted to speak more with you so she brought me to you.” Talina approached Mirrim hesitantly. “Can I join you?”

Mirrim paused before answering, “For a soak?” As Talina nodded, she replied, “Of course. A warm bath will always top a shower. I’ve only one towel, though.”

Talina had already released the clasp at her neck, dropping her gown then she shimmied out of the light shorts. Picking both up, she hung them over a metal hook protruding from the mortar next to Mirrim’s curtained room. She stepped next to Mirrim until she was submerged. Rising, she leaned against the steps.

Mirrim had turned away and closed her eyes once Talina had begun undressing. When she lived in the lower caverns, the women and the children had often bathed in the communal baths so she thought little of Talina joining her. For a fleeting moment she registered that for the first time she was bathing with another female rider. On several occasions she had been the lone female green among her brothers at one of S’bald’s evening bathfests. His weyr bath was well suited for it. 

“How did the negotiations go?

“Oh, Lessa was agreeable but F’lar was unconvinced. He wishes to consult Masterhealer Goren since you are his journeywoman and Goren had retired for the evening. Goren is a bad-tempered sort. His status could keep you from going any time soon.”

“Goren won’t bar my transfer. One of our apprentices is more than ready to sit his exam and he’s a fair dab with the dragons too.” Mirrim was a bit surprised that F’lar would believe Goren would have an objection.

“F’lar actually said that Blue Mowalth’s rider will be consulted too. I don’t think he wants to release you to Eastern.”

Mirrim inclined her head slightly, knowing that F’lar’s real concern was for one of his own wingman. “Oh, give time for Lessa to work on him. You probably shocked him with your request. So, by morning we should know when I may move to Eastern.” 

“Yes”, Talina replied sadly. She fell silent. Stretching out her legs letting her toes break the surface of the water, Talina reminisced about her Benden pool. Until the warm waters swirled gently around her body in Mirrim’s bath she hadn’t realized how much she had missed it. The showers in Eastern were adequate but communal. There was no guarantee of privacy. As the silence continued Talina turned her mind to the recent change of course due to the woman beside her. “I suppose that T’gellan will put you in his weyr.”

“I suppose. We didn’t have time to look at their weyr. What can you tell me about it?” Mirrim checked her shriveling fingertips as she responded. She looked at Talina who was watching her. Something in her manner, the liquid black eyes reflecting the glows, the way her lower lip quivered. Talina’s breath seemed labored. 

Slowly and deliberately, Talina pressed herself next to Mirrim, sliding her hand onto Mirrim’s thigh. “I don’t understand, she barely said above a whisper. “You kissed me and ever since then I feel. I have this feeling, like a need, I am burning to touch you. 

Mirrim picked up her delicate hand feeling the soft pads of her fingertips. “From the moment we followed Monarth into Eastern I could feel Arwith’s anguish. Once we landed she was so relieved that Path and I were there to heal the two of you. But it was Path who coaxed me to physically touch you. When I did, we could feel your anguish too.” She didn’t add her intense memory evoked by the moment she held Talina against her. Talina’s desperate clinging reminded her of Brekke’s long healing process to rise above the loss of Wirenth. 

Talina moved into Mirrim’s lap, encircling her neck with her arms. Mirrim cradled the smaller woman, not certain of what either would do next. She looked across the pool to B’nard’s love stone. Of a different type of rock than the rest of the cave, slightly saddle-shaped and smoothly polished, it perched so close to the water that a rider could sit with his legs apart and dangle them in the water. On more than one occasion, B’nard had lifted her to it and pleasured her to a level of shrieking ecstasy. Often, she had returned the munificence. T’gellan hadn’t had one in either of his Benden weyrs. S’bald had several edging his bathing pool. 

As the smaller woman ran her hands up Mirrim’s arms and along her shoulders she pressed herself closer. “What happened between us that I must feel you,” Talina moaned softly. “Please, Mirrim, hold me like you did in my weyr.”

Mirrim could feel her own heat rise as the other woman began pressing her lips to her neck while her body undulated against her. There was no dragon, gold or green, in her mind driving her passion but as the queen rider continued to press her breasts against hers while suckling her earlobe, the sensation subjugated her reserve. Her mouth watered as she looked again to B’nard’s side of the pool. Before she could apply thought to her actions she pulled Talina closer then stepped the short distance to the love stone. The woman was light enough that Mirrim had no problem seating her. Somewhat confused, Talina looked down from her perch. Mirrim smiled up at her. With her hands on Talina’s knees she gently pried her legs apart until they were settled in the natural grooves of the stone. As a healer who had assisted with many pregnancies and births, this part of a woman was no mystery. 

“Lean back a little,” she suggested. 

Talina complied a bit reluctantly then Mirrim’s hands slid up her thighs to spread her labia apart, exposing the dark pink nodule. As Mirrim palpitated it between two fingers, Talina tried to close her legs, suddenly afraid. 

Mirrim laughed as she pried Talina’s legs apart a second time. “Lean back, Talina, and relax. You asked me for this.”

Talina let her legs rest against the rock as Mirrim leaned her head forward between her hands. With her tongue she caressed and fondled Talina’s folds more intensely as the queen rider grew more agitated. One hand pressed the back of Mirrim’s head as she rocked herself against the green rider’s mouth. Talina’s moans became cries that graduated to breathless shrieks of pleasure.

Mirrim moved back through the water hauling Talina by the waist with her. Talina quickly pulled Mirrim’s mouth to hers for a deep kiss. “That’s my taste,” she thought as Mirrim responded. Mirrim had spun the smaller woman around as she let go of her and pulled herself onto the love stone.

“My turn.” She replied as she moved her long, muscular legs apart and scooted forward.

“Oh,” Talina frowned. “I’m …” She looked enquiringly up at a grinning Mirrim. “I don’t know how.”

“Until a moment ago, neither did I.”

Talina gaped. “You’d never ah, had a…”

Not a woman, anyway. You know what you like done to you; just do the same for me.”

Tentatively, Talina moved her hands forward. Using one finger she wiggled it at the top of Mirrim’s slit. Mirrim leaned back arching her pelvis and looked to the ceiling of her cave. Talina peered up Mirrim’s torso to her face. The sight of her breasts moving with her breathing focused Talina. She wanted to touch them, taste them, which made her hunger. Consciously, she brought her mouth down to Mirrim’s mound, parting it and began suckling. 

Mirrim’s moan echoed off the walls. “Harder, be rough,” she commanded then moaned again as Talina complied. 

Only after Mirrim’s hips slowed their thrusting did Talina lift her head. Impulsively she wrapped her arms around Mirrim waist, hugging herself to her belly. Mirrim caressed the top of Talina’s head as she wrapped her legs around the other woman. Both women giggled at the same time.

As Mirrim slid back into the bathing pool, Talina did too. “I’m ready for sleep,” Mirrim stated casually. 

“So am I,” Talina giggled. “I’d like to stay with you. That is, if you don’t mind.” 

“Aye,” Mirrim responded. “Let’s dry off.” 

Both women walked the steps out of the pool on Mirrim’s side of the cave. Mirrim pulled the towel off its hook giving herself a quick rubdown before handing it to Talina. She walked naked into her room and onto her bed. Talina ambled behind her, with the towel wrapped about her body. Mirrim rolled to her side; her back to Talina. Talina sat at the edge of the bed and used the towel to dry her hair. She nimbly plaited her long black tresses to one braid. She let the towel drop to the floor as she snuggled against Mirrim’s back.

With a contented sigh, she asked, “Do you love me, Mirrim?”

Mirrim responded, “I love you as all riders do … love each other.” 

Both women were silent. Talina pondered the other woman’s answer. It was not the affirmation she desired. However, only a few hours ago, she had felt most unloved until the most unlovable rider showed her patience and kindness. Then, they had answered to the passions that dragonriders had displayed since the first egg. Her thighs and loins still tingled with heightened sensitivity. Involuntarily her hips pressed into Mirrim’s backside.

“Mirrim?”

“Hmmm?”

“Will you forgive me?”

Mirrim turned onto her back and gently pulled Talina’s head to her chest. “Why do you need my forgiveness?”

“I have been cruel to you over the turns, even before you impressed Path. I was unkind if I spoke about you and I hated you because T’gellan loved you.” 

“Go to sleep, Talina. We have a lifetime to talk.”

 

Both Mirrim and Path awoke when B’nard and Mowalth landed on the lip of their shared weyr. She mentally hissed to the dragons, “Quiet you two,” as she slipped off the cot.

“Five more minutes,” Talina mumbled before rolling up in the single fur on Mirrim’s bed. 

Mirrim thanked the stars that the gold rider was a deep sleeper as she shimmied into a shift while rounding to the dragons’ couch. Even in the pale moons’ light she could see that Mowalth was off color and B’nard was swaying. She crossed the open part of the weyr to him. He sagged into her. “It is done,” B’nard stated wearily. 

Mirrim helped the man to his bed, stripping off his gear then settling him under his furs. B’nard was asleep before she could give him a dose of fellis. She hung his clothing to air after she noted the distinct Southern odor of them. “Mowalth,” she asked of the blue dragon, “I expected the two of you to leave tomorrow so that you’d have a rest day. B’nard seems so tired. How are you feeling?”

“I need my stone couch and Path to snuggle me,” came his reply. “Timing to home is more wearying than Timing back.”

Mirrim had exited B’nard’s bedchamber and approached the dragon to remove his straps. Path had risen from their shared stone bed and was nuzzling Mowalth’s neck. “Mowalth thirsts.” 

“I’ll fill your trough in a moment,” Mirrim, who was in the act of removing the netting that held what was left of the gear B’nard had taken to the past, answered. She hesitated when she lifted out a rolled-up blanket. Inside were three short swords in hammered scabbards with intricate triangles and circles wrought into them. Frowning, she rolled them back up and put them with the gear in her room. She hoped that the explanation for them was easy.

“Be easy,” she said to herself. She rubbed her arms where goose bumps had appeared; easy had no part of her character these past two turns. She grabbed the leather sacks that they used to fill the dragons’ water trough and filled them with pool water. Watching Mowalth dip his nose into the trough then sucking the liquid voraciously, Mirrim idly rubbed his neck. Mowalth didn’t speak to her but he emanated an exhaustion that boarded on illness. 

“Come to our couch, my love,” Path broadcasted to her blue dragon with a low warble. “You will over-drink.”

Mowalth growled softly. “Thank you Path’s rider Mirrim. You are good to my rider.” He turned slowly and crawled into his couch with Path then settled with a small snort. Path’s eyes were glowing a pale blue which deepened to indigo as she closed her eyes too. 

Once she refilled the trough, she checked on B’nard once more. He looked a bit grey and gaunt but his breaths were deep and even. She leaned over his form to kiss his forehead maternally. Sleep and rest would revive their mates. Satisfied with the entire day’s activities she crawled back into her own cot as Talina snuggled against her.


End file.
